This post is sponsored by Shepherd’s Grain. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the businesses who support Sloane’s Table!
These chocolate espresso linzer cookies are delicate, buttery, crisp, and perfect for Valentine's Day! Made with Shepherd’s Grain All Purpose Flour, these delicate heart sandwich cookies are fun to make and delicious to eat!
Despite the long process of chilling and rolling out the dough, these cookies are surprisingly easy to make and only require 10 ingredients. Make these for someone special to let them know how much you care!
For more chocolate cookie recipes, try Chocolate Chai Linzer Cookies, Fudgy Mocha Brownie Cookies, Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Peppermint Mocha Cookies.
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Ingredient Notes
- Shepherd's Grain All Purpose Flour: Shepherd’s Grain All Purpose Flour is made from sustainably grown wheat and creates the most beautiful bakes with the perfect taste and texture.Get your own flour here!
- Almond Flour: Use extra fine almond flour for the best texture in the cookies.
- Espresso Powder: You'll need 15g of espresso powder, which seems like a lot when you're adding it, but I promise it's necessary to ensure the flavor comes through!
- Unsalted Butter: You'll need two sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature.
- Granulated Sugar: You'll need about ¾ cup of sugar.
- Egg: Bring your egg to room temperature by adding it in a bowl of warm water.
- Vanilla: Use a good quality vanilla paste or extract.
- Chocolate: Use your favorite semi-sweet chocolate for the ganache.
- Heavy Cream: You'll need about a ¼ cup of heavy cream for the ganache.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.
Step by Step Instructions
Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make this chocolate espresso linzer cookie recipe! For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.
STEP 1: Make the dough. Make the cookie dough by mixing the dry ingredients and wet ingredients, then combining the wet and dry in two batches until a dry dough forms. Divide into two disks and chill the dough in the fridge for at least one hour or up to a few days.
STEP 2: Roll and cut. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of dough to ⅛" in thickness. Use a 2 ½" fluted round cutter and a 1" heart cutter. Cut out an even number of solid cookies and cookies with a heart cutout.
STEP 3: Freeze and bake. Place all cutout cookie dough in the freezer for 10 minutes. Place the scrap cookie dough back in the fridge for about 15 minutes before re-rolling. Bake the frozen cutout cookies at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Bake the tiny hearts for about 8 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet.
STEP 4: Make ganache and assemble. In a heat proof bowl, combine the chocolate and heavy cream. Heat in the microwave in 15 second intervals. Gently stir between each interval until combined. Pair the linzer cookies up and sprinkle powdered sugar and/or cocoa powder on the top heart cookies. Spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom cookie, then place the paired cookie on top.
Expert Baking Tips
- Be sure to chill the dough as instructed above and in the recipe card so your cookies will maintain their shape.
- Do not make the ganache until you are ready to assemble, as it will harden after a few minutes.
- Get your own Shepherd’s Grain All Purpose Flour here!
Recipe FAQs
1. In a heat proof bowl, combine the chocolate and heavy cream.
2. Heat in the microwave in 15 second intervals. Gently stir between each interval.
3. Once fully melted and combined, allow to sit for just a few minutes to cool down, then immediately use to assemble cookies.
To ensure that the linzer cookies maintain their shape in the oven, chill the cookie dough for at least one hour, then freeze the cutout dough for 10 minutes.
Since linzer cookies are meant to be crisp, store them at room temperature covered loosely with aluminum foil.
Baking in Grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.
But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
Other Valentine's Day recipes you'll love:
If you tried this recipe, I'd love to know how it turned out for you! Leave a star rating & review below and post a picture (or video!) on Instagram and tag me so I can see your bakes! Not ready to make this recipe yet? Click the heart button on the right of your screen to save it for later 🙂
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Espresso Linzer Cookies
Ingredients
For the Linzer Cookies:
- 240 g Shepherd's Grain All Purpose Flour
- 110 g almond flour
- 15 g espresso powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 227 g unsalted butter, room temp
- 148 g granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
For the Chocolate Ganache:
- 142 g chocolate
- 60 g heavy cream
Instructions
For the Linzer Cookies:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, espresso powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the butter, sugar mixture, and mix until fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients in two batches, mixing on low speed until everything is mostly combined.
- Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl and finish combining the dough. It will seem dry, but that's okay.
- Divide the dough in two, shape into disks, and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least one hour or up to a few days.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of dough to ⅛" in thickness. Use a 2 ½" fluted round cutter and a 1" heart cutter. Cut out an even number of solid cookies and cookies with a heart cutout.
- Place all cutout cookie dough in the freezer for 10 minutes. Place the scrap cookie dough back in the fridge for about 15 minutes before re-rolling.
- Bake the frozen cutout cookies for about 10 minutes. Bake the tiny hearts for about 8 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet.
- Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
For the Chocolate Ganache:
- In a heat proof bowl, combine the chocolate and heavy cream.
- Heat in the microwave in 15 second intervals. Gently stir between each interval.
- Once fully melted and combined, allow to sit for just a few minutes to cool down, then immediately use to assemble cookies.
For Assembly:
- Pair the linzer cookies up and sprinkle powdered sugar and/or cocoa powder on the top heart cookies.
- Spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom cookie, then place the paired cookie on top.
Soroco says
Hi Meg,
Am I able to use the Red Mill wheat pastry flour in lieu of the one mentioned above that is wheat? I have 5lbs of Red Mill on hand.Thank you.
Sloane says
I have not tested this recipe with pastry flour, but I would imagine it would work just fine! Would love to hear how it turns out if you try it 🙂
Meg says
Can I make this with no almond flour, only regular all-purpose flour?
Sloane says
Hi Meg! I do not recommend replacing the almond flour. If you are looking for a cutout cookie with just all-purpose flour you can try these cutout sugar cookies - https://atsloanestable.com/snowflake-sugar-cookies/. You can even add espresso powder to the dough to make them the same flavor as these linzer cookies!